Members of the Wajszczuk Family incarcerated in the
Lublin Castle (Zamek Lubelski) during World War II

Information gathered recently from various archival sources allowed compiling of a list of members (perhaps still incomplete) of the Wajszczuk Family, who were jailed by the Germans at the Lublin Castle (1) for their patriotic activities or as members of the Polish resistance (2), before being sent to various concentration camps – many of them perished there. Probably all of them underwent severe and brutal interrogation at the Gestapo Headquarters in Lublin in the “Dom Pod Zegarem” (3)

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(1) Lublin Castle - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lublin_Castle

Lublin Castle (Polish: Zamek Lubelski) is situated in Lublin, Poland, adjacent to the Old Town district and close to the city center. The hill on which it is located was first fortified with a wood-reinforced earthen wall in the 12th century. (…)

The castle served as a prison (…): under the Tsarist rule from 1828 to 1915, in independent Poland from 1918 to 1939, and most infamously during the Nazi occupation of the city from 1939 to 1944, when between 40,000 and 80,000 inmates, many of them Polish resistance fighters, passed through the prison^[1]. Just before withdrawing in 1944, the Nazis massacred its remaining 300 prisoners. After 1944 the castle continued to serve as a prison of Poland's communist regime, and until 1954 about 35,000 Poles opposing Communist rule passed through it, of whom 333 lost their lives. (…)

(2) Polish resistance movement

The Polish resistance movement was a resistance movement in Poland, part of the anti-fascist resistance movement which fought against the occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany during World War II. Resistance to the Nazi German occupation began almost at once, although there is little terrain in Poland suitable for guerrilla operations. The Home Army (in Polish Armia Krajowa or AK), loyal to the Polish government in exile in London and a military arm of the Polish Secret State, was formed from a number of smaller groups in 1942. From 1943 the AK was in competition with the People's Army (Polish Armia Ludowa or AL), backed by the Soviet Union and controlled by the Polish Workers' Party (Polish Polska Partia Robotnicza or PPR). By 1944 the AK had some 380,000 men, although few arms: the AL was much smaller, numbering around 30,000[1]. By the summer of 1944 Polish underground forces numbered more than 300,000[2]. The Polish partisan groups (Leśni) killed about 150,000 Axis forces during the occupation. (…)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Secret_State

Polish Secret State (also known as Polish Underground State; Polish Polskie Państwo Podziemne) is a term coined by scholar Jan Karski in his book Story of a Secret State; it is used to refer to all underground resistance organizations in Poland during World War II, both military and civilian. The term is used in Polish historiography to denote both the armed struggle against the occupying powers and all the examples of underground political, social and educational activities during the occupation.

The military part, consisting mostly of various branches of the Home Army, was to prepare the Polish society for a future fight for the liberation of the country. Apart from armed resistance, sabotage, training and propaganda, the military arm of the Polish secret state was responsible for maintaining communications with the London-based government, as well as for protecting the civilian arm of the state. The main role of the latter was in maintaining the continuity of the Polish state as a whole, including its institutions such as the police, the courts or education. It was to prepare cadres and institutions for recovering power after the German defeat in World War II.

(3) „Dom pod Zegarem” (“House under the Clock”)
https://www.wajszczuk.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/pod_zegarem.htm

(4) Information from the files of the “Archiwum Państwowe przy Muzeum Obozu Koncentracyjnego na Majdanku w Lublinie.”

(5) http://www.drelow.siedlce.opoka.org.pl/wajszczuk/index_e.htm

(6) https://www.wajszczuk.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/wiezniowie_dachau.htm

(7) Prison at Wisnicz Nowy - http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zakład_Karny_Nowy_Wiśnicz

View of the Castle and of the old Carmelite Monastery (at present a prison). Painting by J. Losik, 1905. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discalced_Carmelites; http://umwisnicz.home.pl/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=793&Itemid=65 (in Polish)

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zak%C5%82ad_Karny_Nowy_Wi%C5%9Bnicz. (in Polish – below short summary in English)

In 1783, the Austrian Emperor Jozef II (under whose rule this part of Poland remained after partitioning at the end of the XVIII century), trasformed the monastery of the Discalced Carmelite monks into a severe jail for ordinary criminals and highland robbers from the Tatra mountains. During German occupation of Poland during WWII, this jail was used as a labour camp until the time of opening of the Concentration Camp at Auschwitz.

http://www.polska.pl/miasta/wisnicz/dokumenty/article.htm?id=77487 (in Polish – below short summary in English)

(…) In September 1939 the German authorities organized here a Labour Camp (Arbeitslager Neu-Wisnicz bei Bochnia). There were plans to transform this penitentiary into a concentration camp. Until June 1940, political prisoners were held here; sentenced prisoners were held in separate blocks. In July 1940 the penitentiary was named - Deutsche Strafanstalt in Neu-Wisnicz, and since 1941 –Deutsches Zuchthaus.

(8) – Information gathered from the family members in Poland and in USA

see also:

• https://www.wajszczuk.pl/polski/mapy/domy_sitaniec_wysokie.htm

• https://www.wajszczuk.pl/polski/mapy/domy_sulow.htm

• https://www.wajszczuk.pl/english/drzewo/tekst/zamek.htm

Prepared by: Waldemar J Wajszczuk & Paweł Stefaniuk 2023
e-mail: drzewo.rodziny.wajszczuk@gmail.com